Rob's Gaming Blog

When will Sony hit a homerun?

November 3, 2007 on 4:34 pm | In PS3 vs. XBOX360 vs. Wii | Comments Off

I don’t know about you but as a PlayStation 3 owner, I’m a little disappointed.  Sure the PS3 has superior graphics, great audio capabilities, good size hard drive, built in wireless and wired internet, and boat loads of other features too.  So, when is Sony planning on taking over the console world?  Well from recent news you’d expect never.

This is really kind of old news, but still a hot topic because those 60GB PS3 versions are about to go up in value.  I got my hands on the 60GB PS3, which still has the PS2 compatibility built into it.  In case you live in a cave, Sony decided to remove PS2 compatibility from the newer versions of the PS3, which by the way has always been one of the best reasons to stick with Sony through thick and thin — to me it was always like they weren’t leaving last years technology behind.  So, instead this time around, they removed backward compatibility from the PS3.  

So Sony saves a buck by removing the hardware that makes those PS2 games run but is it worth it?  Well a couple of things happened very recently that make it not so bad.  First, Sony is releasing a new version of the PS2 at a pricepoint of $99.  So, now you can get a nice PS2 for under $100 and its brand new too. 

Basically, Sony cut the price of Sony PS3 by $100 and added a 5 free blu-ray movie disc offer on the PS3.  But shortly, you’ll be able to get a PS3 and a PS2 for the same price as having them both in the PS3.  Not a bad plan.  It reduced the price of the PS3 which is really what Sony needed to do since the day the PS3 came out.  It was priced way too high to begin with.

At first, it appeared that Sony had made a huge blunder by removing the PS2 backward compatibility, but instead they accomplished the ultimate goal.  This holiday season Sony will have a full line-up of PS3 and PS2.

Let’s look at the Sony PS3 models that are out right now.  There is a Sony PS3 with an 80GB drive.  This is the top of the line model right now.  This is the one that replaced the 60GB version.  At a price point of $499.99 including 1 game, thats a reasonable deal.  It was regularly $599.99, but Sony recently dropped the price by $100.

The other model is the Sony PlayStation 3 40GB with Spider-Man 3 Movie Pack.

The good news is that both of these models have the HDMI 1080p out interface built into them, unlike the lower versions of the xbox360 which removes the HD output plug.  It looks like they are identical except the hard drive size.  But don’t quote me on that one.   Check with your retailer before you make a purchase on which system fits your needs the most.

Sony has also decided to continue the 5 free blue-ray movies with your purchase of a PS3.  It doesn’t matter which model.  Take your pick, your still getting 5 free movies no matter what.

All of the information I got straight from the ebgames.com website.

PS3 vs. XBOX360 vs. Wii

September 6, 2007 on 10:15 pm | In PS3 vs. XBOX360 vs. Wii | 4 Comments

Let the war begin!

At least for me, this question isn’t so cut and dry.  I’ve seen the games on the Xbox360 and graphically they looked impressive but up until I saw the Halo 3 game I didn’t really think there was anything worth buying the system for. 

I really wanted a PS3 back even before any of the new consoles came out.  I thought Sony was going to deliver a knock out punch, but instead they decided to drag themselves through the ground by making a console that was out of most peoples price range.  Not everyone is willing to spend $3,000 on a PS3, only a small majority of the population would go to such expense.  Kudos to Sony for finally! dropping the price on the PS3 and offering up some extra bonus items too — I’m supposed to get 5 Blu-Ray movies in the mail sometime soon I hope.  Still waiting for them.  Let’s hope they arrive soon.  I own about 30 PS2 games so that was what mainly swayed me to buy a PS3.  I still have alot of games that I haven’t finished yet that are great. Vice City, Need for Speed Most Wanted, Superman Returns, San Andreas, Bully, and Tomb Raider Legends.  PS3 is really lacking in games right now, but we’re looking forward to this year because we’re told alot of games are coming out.

Ah, the Wii.  Perfect in design and perfect to play.  I don’t actually own a Nintendo Wii but I have relatives that have this system and its fantastic.  We played the built in games non-stop for hours when the Wii first came out.  The controller is innovative and light weight and they respond very well.  And its the only system that you play with and maybe, just maybe you’ll walk away with a broken nose or worse yet a broken TV.  Now the other 2 consoles aren’t that Hardcore.  Sadly, I only played the gamecube a little bit and never really got into the games on the gamecube.  I played animal crossing, but after you play GTA or Half Life its damn hard to sit there and play animal crossing.  It gets kind of boring.  The Wii has no doubt proven what I’ve been saying for years.  Great graphics are only a nice to have.  If you’re game looks incredible but doesn’t play well, then your game will suck.  But you can have an excellent game with excellent gameplay with horrible graphics and it can still be a great game.  I think too much emphasis is put on the graphics and not enough on the gameplay alot of times. 

 So there you have it, Rob’s perspective on the 3 next generation consoles.  So what do you have to say?